ENG 583
Studies in English Linguistics:
Semantics
Spring 2004
Wednesdays 6-9 p.m., Evans 352
Professor: Helena Halmari Adams
Office: Evans 112
Telephone: (936)-294-1420
Email: eng_shh@shsu.edu
Office hours: MW 11-12, 14-15, Tu 14-15
Course description:
This course is an introduction to semantics, the study of meaning. The following
questions will be addressed:
How to define the meaning of words?
What are the characteristics of meaningful and meaningless sentences?
What is the propositional content of a sentence?
What is accomplished with direct and indirect speech acts?
How does context affect meaning?
How does time affect meaning?
The focus of the course will be on English lexical semantics (the meanings of English
words, where they came from and how their meanings may have changed over the
centuries) and contemporary pragmatics (language in context). The course also offers a
brief introduction to formal and philosophical semantics.
Required texts:
Lyons, John (1995). Linguistics Semantics: An introduction.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lakoff, George and Johnson, Mark (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: Chicago
University Press. (Available at the Newton Gresham Library/Course reserve)
A reading packet of articles. (Available at the Newton Gresham Library/Course
reserve)
Evaluation:
Midterm 25%
Assignments 3x5%=15%
Article presentation 10%
Final 20%
Research paper 30%
MEETINGS:
READINGS
W 1/14
Introduction:
Semantics as part of the study of linguistics
W 1/21
What is semantics?
Lyons 1, 2
W 1/28
Lexical meaning:
Words as meaningful units
Defining the meaning of words
Lyons 3
Aitchison Chs 4-5
W 2/4
W 2/11
The structural approach
Lyons 4
Aitchison Chs 6-7
How children learn word meanings?
Sentence-meaning:
Meaningful and meaningless sentences
Aitchison Ch 8
W 2/18
Sentence-meaning and propositions
Formal approaches to sentence meaning
Assignment 1 due
Lyons 6
Lyons 7
W 2/25
Utterance-meaning
Speech acts
Text and discourse
Assignment 2 due
Lyons 5
Lyons 8
Lyons 9
W 3/3
The subjectivity of utterance
Lyons 10
Halmari: “Discourse of death...”
Tentative research paper topics and research questions due
W 3/10
In-class midterm
W 3/17
Spring break/No class
W 3/24
RELATING READINGS TO REASEARCH:
Lakoff & Johnson, Chs 1-5
Lakoff & Johnson, Chs 6-10
Lakoff & Johnson, Chs 10-15
Simpson: “Phatic communion and fictional...”
Deborah G.
Steve K.
Dion R.
OPEN
Cronan: “Poetic meanings in the Old English...”
Lakoff & Johnson, Chs 16-20
Lakoff & Johnson, Chs 21-25
Lakoff & Johnson, Chs 26-30
Michelle M.
Nathan R.
Bill R.
Christina T.
W 3/31
W 4/7
Horn: “Idioms, metaphors and syntactic...”
Simner, Pickering, and Garnham: “Discourse...”
Temperley: “Ambiguity avoidance in English...”
Assignment 3 due
Dan S.
OPEN
Gary W.
W 4/14
Kac: “The semantics and pragmatics of...”
Pitt: “Reply to Kac”
Tenny: “How motion verbs are special”
Rough draft of the research paper due
Matt D.
Amy R.
Sarah H.
W 4/21
Hamblin & Gibbs: “Processing the meaning...”
Harris & Pexman: “Children’s perceptions...”
Orwell: “Politics and the English language”
Morgan: “Self-presentation in a speech...”
Ginger, F.
Corissa B.
Melinda F.
Tray D.
W 4/28
Searle: “What is a Speech Act?”
Searle: “Indirect Speech Acts”
Scott, P.
Kim M.
W 5/5
Presentation of papers/Papers due
W 5/12
In-class final (08:00-10:00 p.m.)
*****************************************
Articles/chapers to read and present (available at the reserve desk at Newton Gresham
Library):
LEXICAL SEMANTICS
Cronan, Dennis. 2003. Poetic meanings in the Old English poetic vocabulary. English
Studies: A Journal of English Language and Literature 84(5). 397-425.
Presenter: Michelle Martinez (March 31)
METAPHOR
Lakoff, George and Johnson, Mark. 1980. Metaphors we live by. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press. (6 presentations/5 chapters each)
Presenters:
Deborah Greene (Chs 1-5) (March 24)
Steve Kaminczak (Chs 5-10) (March 24)
Dion Rivera (Chs 11-15) (March 24)
Nathan Roberts (Chs 16-20) (March 31)
Bill Rudolph (Chs 21-25) (March 31)
Christina Tonan (Chs 26-30) (March 31)
METAPHORS & GRAMMAR
Horn, George M. 2003. Idioms, metaphors and syntactic mobility. Journal of Linguistics
39. 245-273.
Presenter: Dan Sellers (April 7)
AMBIGUITY & GRAMMAR/DISCOURSE
Simner, Julia, Pickering, Martin, and Garnham, Alan. 2003. Discourse cues to ambiguity
resolution: Evidence from “do it” comprehension. Discourse Processes 36(1). 1-17.
Presenter: OPEN (April 7)
Temperley, David. 2003. Ambiguity avoidance in English relative clauses. Language
79(3). 464-484.
Presenter: Gary Wilkens (April 7)
SEMANTICS AND PRAGMATICS
Kac, Michael B. 2003. The semantics and pragmatics of appearance. Language 79(1).
189-196.
Presenter: Matt Davis (April 14)
Pitt, David. 2003. Reply to Kac. Language 79(1). 197-201.
Presenter: Amy Roberts (April 14)
Tenny, Carol. 1995. How motion verbs are special: The interaction of semantic and
pragmatic information in aspectual verb meaning. Pragmatics and Cognition 3(1). 31-73.
Presenter: Sarah Hewitt (April 14)
DISCOURSE AND PRAGMATICS
Halmari, Helena. 1999. Discourse of death: The function of the local newspaper coverage
of Huntsville, Texas executions. In Verschueren, J. (ed.) Language and ideology. Vol. 1:
Selected papers from the 6th International Pragmatics Conference. Antwerp: International
Pragmatics Association. 179-205.
Presenter: HH and class (March 3)
Hamblin, Jennifer L. and Gibbs, Raymond W., Jr. 2003. Processing the meaning of what
speakers say and implicate. Discourse Processes 35(1). 59-80.
Presenter: Ginger Fray (April 21)
Harris, Melanie and Pexman, Penny M. 2003. Children’s perceptions of the social
functions of verbal irony. Discourse Processes 36(3). 147-165.
Presenter: Corissa Bush (April 21)
Morgan, Pamela S. 1997. Self-presentation in a speech of Newt Gingrich. Pragmatics
7(3). 275-308.
Presenter: Tray Denman (April 21)
Orwell, George. 1968[1946]. Politics and the English language. In Orwell, G. Essays.
Edited and introduced by John Carey. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 954-967.
Presenter: Melissa Freeman (April 21)
Searle, John R. Indirect Speech Acts. In Cole, P. and Morgan, J. L. (eds) Syntax and
semantics. Reprinted in Davis, Steven (ed.) 1991. Pragmatics: A reader. New York:
Oxford University Press. 265-277.
Presenter: Kim McCullough (April 28)
Searle, John R. 1965. What is a Speech Act? In Black, M. (ed.) Philosophy in America.
Reprinted in Davis, Steven (ed.) 1991. Pragmatics: A reader. New York: Oxford
University Press. 254-264.
Presenter: Scott Peavy (April 28)
Simpson, Paul. 1989. Phatic communion and fictional dialogue. In Carter, R. and
Simpson, P. (eds) Language, discourse and literature: An introductory reader in
discourse stylistics.
London: Unwin Hyman. 42-56.
Presenter: OPEN (March 24)